Oxygenics was kind enough to send us their new STORM showerhead, which was designed to provide 20%-70% water and energy savings. The unit has 54 spray nozzles that shower you with 30% more water pressure compared to other brands. They do this with their Pressure Boosting Technology (see below), which squeezes the stream of water while adding air to it.

Water and energy are connected, and if you're adopting strategies to use less hot water, you're going to save some energy. I haven't been able to see how the STORM is affecting my energy and water bills, but I'm confident that the showerhead is making a decent contribution.

I've attached a video for your Friday viewing pleasure. This video is completely undoctored, so you should be able to compare my basic, old showerhead with the new STORM.

After recording the old and the new showerheads, I realized that a black background would have helped, but even if you can't see the water that clearly, the stream feels just about the same to me. Or I can't feel a difference.

What is different, however, is the noise. The STORM actually feels like you're in a crazy Texas storm! It's kind of loud. It is what it is, and I like it. Like most showerheads, the installation was super simple, so no matter how technically challenged you are, you can install one of these. I didn't use any tools at all. Go grab one at:

Update: @greenspec points out that STORM's flowrate is 2.5 gallons per minute, which barely passes federal standards. To this, Oxygenics tells me that while other industry-standard showerheads flow at 2.5 gpm at 50 pounds per square inch, the STORM flows at 1.9 GPM at 50 PSI. So, in reality, the STORM flows at a max of 2.5 GPM.

To put it in other terms, It’s similar to a speedometer on a car. Although it says 130 MPHs, the car, in it’s life, will never reach that speed. This is exactly like our showerhead. It’s rated at 2.5 GPMs, but because of its patented technology and the real-life application with hotel water pressure, our unit will flow at 1.75 gallons per minute.

http://www.ecozebra.com Andrew Stone

Do you have a tankless water heater? Wondering how this works with them?

http://www.jetsongreen.com Preston

No, we’re just renting a place. But the water heater did go out over the winter and I suggested the tankless. The landlord wanted to do it, but the labor estimates were all coming back really, really high. He went with the tank type.

I see where you’re going with your question, and I’d be interested in seeing the estimated energy savings differential using both technologies.

Name

The shower head flow rate specs need to be < 2gpm for LEED homes points